The illustration relates several states of warfare and collective action—facing enemies, different strengths of a troop, and different circumstances—to the behavior appropriate to each.
Purpose: To present one subject or group in several states and assign a suitable action or quality to each state.
For example, advance in attack, steadfastness in defense, and encouragement when forces are few are three different responses to different conditions even though the original group remains the same.
The art is not a random list of attributes: it depends on the fit between each situation and its description.